THE LADY POLITICIAN.

Bush Advocate, Volume XXII, Issue 65, 18 March 1910, Page 6

THE LADY POLITICIAN.

The appearance of at least one lady candidate for election to the Australian Federal Senate, as might be expected, has led to numerous diverting incidents serving to pleasantly leaven the monotony oi : an otherwise grimly earnest campaign. The feminine aspirant to political honors is Miss Vida Goldstein, and so far as can be gathered from the veracious chronicler of current eventfulness, her audiences have been composed mostly of members of her own sex. Occasionally, however, a representative of the masculine minority has mustered sufficient courage to strike a blow for the rights of his kind, and it is then that the lighter side of things is permtited to come to the surface. For example, a few days ago, Miss Goldstein was addressing a meeting consisting chiefly of warm-ly-approving matrons in a suburb of Melbourne. There Avere very few men present, but one of them at least, a Mr Kemp, contrived to justify his existence as an intelligent auditor. .Naturally enough, Miss Goldstein laid considerable emphasis upon the economic independence of women and the - necessity for amendment of the marriage and divorce laws. She was in process of remarking that those who voted against her candidature voted against the home, when Mr Kemp arose in his wrath. "No, no!" he declared. "It is he man who supports the home. I know—l'm the father of two families." Disdaining to utilise the opportunity for the acidulous retort feminine, Miss Goldstein explained, amid discreet applause from the nodding matrons, that she did not contend that men purposely made the laws so that they would be unjust to women; they simply erred because they, did not understand matters from a woman's aspect. Hence the necessity for women in Parliament. But Mr Kemp was not thus easily to be disposed of. He demanded to know if the candidate was in favor of imposing a stiff tax on bachelors. The lady scored decisively by retorting that she would be exceedingly sorry to favor any proposal that would be likely to induce some men to get married. Recognising that this shaft was not directed at him, the much-married heckler, conscious of his charms in the eyes of womaukind, boldly expressed his belief that if he were only single he could induce Miss Goldstein to get married. This declaration was promptly ruled out of order by the chairman. Mr Kemp, driven to deal with stern realities, enquired whether the candidate favored the giving of bonuses to mothers for every child above the fifth. Miss Glodstein confessed that she had not considered the matter, but if the principle was a good one, she did not see why its application should not begin with the arrival of the first little stranger. Altogether, the lady candidate emerged with most of the honors of tho encounter.